College Football Playoff Rankings for Week 14

College Football Playoff: Which teams have been ranked the most in the playoff era?

We're in the fourth year of the College Football Playoff, which represents almost an entire recruiting cycle – the true freshmen in the 2014 season are now seniors. It feels like a good time to evaluate which teams have been ranked the most often, and the highest on average, in the playoff era.

While 60 schools have been ranked at some point by the College Football Playoff selection committee, just three have been ranked in every edition of the rankings.

Here's the full breakdown:

Ranked the most

Here are the schools that have the 10 highest totals for the number of weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings. Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State – the three schools that have won a national championship in the CFP era – have appeared in every set of rankings since the first on Oct. 28, 2014.

School

Weeks Ranked

Active Streak

Alabama

25

25 weeks

Clemson

25

25 weeks

Ohio State

25

25 weeks

Oklahoma

23

18 weeks

LSU

21

8 weeks

Wisconsin

20

12 weeks

Auburn

19

12 weeks

Michigan State

19

6 weeks

TCU

19

6 weeks

Florida State

19

0 weeks

Utah

19

0 weeks

Ranked the highest on average

Which schools have the highest average rankings when they appear in the College Football Playoff selection committee's top 25? Alabama has a ridiculous average ranking of 2.2. The Crimson Tide's worst ranking in the CFP era was sixth, which was in the committee's first rankings in 2014.

Miami, of course, benefits from its undefeated start this season. The Hurricanes were never ranked in the first three years of the College Football Playoff, so their average ranking is based on only a six-week sample size.

School

Average Ranking (Weeks ranked)

Alabama

2.20 (25 weeks)

Ohio State

6.36 (25 weeks)

Miami

6.50 (6 weeks)

Clemson

7.08 (25 weeks)

Iowa

7.43 (7 weeks)

Oregon

8.18 (11 weeks)

Notre Dame

8.27 (15 weeks)

Georgia

9.00 (13 weeks)

Washington

9.00 (12 weeks)

Penn State

9.00 (12 weeks)

Selection day darlings

Only five schools have been ranked on selection day in each of the last four seasons. Three of the five have made the College Football Playoff multiple times while the other two have just two combined top-10 finishes. USC and LSU have been staples in the College Football Playoff rankings, but they have never finished better than eighth.

School

2014

2015

2016

2017

Average Final Ranking

Alabama

1

2

1

4

2.00

Ohio State

4

7

3

5

4.75

Clemson

17

1

2

1

5.25

USC

24

25

9

8

16.50

LSU

23

20

20

17

20.00

Complete breakdown

Here is the overall breakdown of each of the 60 schools that have been ranked in the top 25 by the College Football Playoff selection committee, along with their average ranking and their ranking on selection day during each of the last four seasons.

School

Weeks Ranked

Average Ranking

2014 Finish

2015 Finish

2016 Finish

2017 Finish

Alabama

25

2.20

1

2

1

4

Ohio State

25

6.36

4

7

3

5

Clemson

25

7.08

17

1

2

1

Oklahoma

23

9.52

NR

4

7

2

LSU

21

17.86

23

20

20

17

Wisconsin

20

11.75

18

NR

8

6

TCU

19

9.58

6

11

NR

15

Florida State

19

10.05

3

9

11

NR

Auburn

19

10.58

19

NR

14

7

Michigan State

19

10.95

8

3

NR

16

Utah

19

18.53

22

22

19

NR

Oklahoma State

18

13.44

NR

16

12

19

USC

17

15.88

24

25

9

8

Mississippi State

16

12.13

7

NR

NR

23

Notre Dame

15

8.27

NR

8

NR

14

Stanford

15

14.93

NR

6

18

13

Baylor

14

9.43

5

17

NR

NR

Georgia

13

9.00

13

NR

NR

3

Michigan

13

9.92

NR

14

6

NR

Washington

12

9.00

NR

NR

4

11

Penn State

12

9.00

NR

NR

5

9

Ole Miss

12

13.00

9

12

NR

NR

Oregon

11

8.18

2

15

NR

NR

Florida

11

14.45

NR

19

17

NR

Louisville

11

15.27

21

NR

13

NR

Northwestern

11

19.45

NR

13

NR

21

Washington State

11

20.00

NR

NR

NR

18

UCLA

10

16.10

14

NR

NR

NR

Boise State

10

22.30

20

NR

NR

25

Virginia Tech

9

19.67

NR

NR

22

22

Memphis

9

20.11

NR

NR

NR

20

Arizona

8

13.75

10

NR

NR

NR

Nebraska

8

16.25

NR

NR

NR

NR

West Virginia

8

17.88

NR

NR

16

NR

Navy

8

20.50

NR

21

25

NR

Iowa

7

7.43

NR

5

NR

NR

Kansas State

7

10.43

11

NR

NR

NR

Arizona State

7

12.43

15

NR

NR

NR

North Carolina

7

16.00

NR

10

NR

NR

Houston

7

21.29

NR

18

NR

NR

Miami

6

6.50

NR

NR

NR

10

Colorado

6

10.67

NR

NR

10

NR

UCF

6

15.33

NR

NR

NR

12

Georgia Tech

6

17.17

12

NR

NR

NR

Western Michigan

6

19.67

NR

NR

15

NR

Tennessee

6

21.17

NR

23

21

NR

Temple

6

23.17

NR

24

24

NR

Texas A&M

5

16.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

N.C. State

5

22.00

NR

NR

NR

24

Missouri

4

17.25

16

NR

NR

NR

Minnesota

4

23.25

25

NR

NR

NR

Duke

3

22.33

NR

NR

NR

NR

Iowa State

2

18.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

Pittsburgh

2

24.00

NR

NR

23

NR

Toledo

2

24.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

East Carolina

1

23.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

Marshall

1

24.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

South Carolina

1

24.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

Arkansas

1

25.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

Fresno State

1

25.00

NR

NR

NR

NR

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